From Gail Bardhan at CMoG
Perhaps I can summarize, on behalf of the Corning Museum of Glass
Library, information on some of the contents of the Forgett Archives. A
picture from the auction catalog may not convey as much as a brief
listing.

Below are the remarks that the head librarian included in the museum’s
1990 annual report:

“The Rakow Library’s most significant 1990 acquisition was a treasure
trove of archival materials pertaining to several Corning glass firms.
The materials include
–incoming business correspondence (between 15,000-20,000 letters,
telegrams, invoices, and post cards) of T. G. Hawkes and Company, in the
1880s;
–more than 8000 drawings from H. P. Sinclaire and Company
–three large scrapbooks from J. Hoare and Company, containing templates
and drawings of glassware by Hoare and his competitors
–The original stock certificate book of the Steuben Glass Works, which
was formed by Thomas Hawkes and Frederick Carder

And much more! (If one were to count boxes, there would be perhaps 45.)
The initial inventory was 26 typewritten pages.

The material came from Penrose Hawkes, and is therefore mostly related
to cut glass and glass made in Corning, but very little of interest to
Carder collectors. Jane Spillman used the materials extensively in
researching the book she published in 1996 about T. G. Hawkes and his
competitors, and cut/engraved glass researchers continue to benefit from
the documentation about patterns.

Documentation and archives (from individual researchers, from companies,
organizations, etc.) form an important part of our library’s
collections. For example, from Bob Mueller’s mother we received 17
boxes of materials relating to Steuben for the period 1935-1996. Her
archive contains information on Steuben exhibits, clippings, articles,
press releases, pamplets, price lists, photocopies of Steuben designs,
correspondence with museums with information on Steuben pieces, Steuben
publications, Steuben catalogs,and Steuben postcards.

Gail Bardhan
Reference & Research Librarian
The Corning Museum of Glass
Five Museum Way
Corning, NY 14830
Telephone 607-974-8020
Email bardhangp@cmog.org